[ChuckMcM]

Although if you called your startup "The Monkees" they might have a basis for a lawsuit :-)

More seriously though, my experience is that smart, motivated people get stuff done. And putting them in a situation with a deadline is one way to entice them to get something done (its the way college works after all :-))

As with many things, starting can be quite hard and I see the experiment YC is running as a way of seeing if incenting these folks to start will produce good results. Regardless of the outcome its a good experiment to run as it can inform future estimates on the available folks for creating new companies.

[aespinoza]

I agree. But we have seen from experience, that people that have trouble finding something to undertake are better off working on other people's ideas. If they have what it takes to be an entrepreneur, they will find their idea while working on another.

This is why people working for Google, Facebook, and startups become really great entrepreneurs. They live the life, they learn the trade and then when they get an idea they have everything in the world to succeed.

But in turn, if you just came out of college, being an Entrepreneur sounds good, let's try it without any clue on what you are doing, then it is going to be a waste of your time.

But I have to agree. YC trying it does not mean is wrong or bad. It might work, but they have to understand these engineers will not be entrepreneurs, at least not in their first instance.